Germany takes on Turkey but is definitely not the clear favourite.
The home fans might actually be outnumbered by the away fans in this European championship qualifier between Germany and Turkey at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. The night will be a special for the likes of the Altintop brothers and Nuri Sahin as well as for one of the brightest and most coveted youngsters in world football, Mesut Özil.
Plenty of Turkish immigrants live in Germany; plenty of them support both the German and Turkish national team. Apparently, a large number of home fans will be rooting for the Turks if some recent reports arriving out of Germany are to be believed.
The Altintop brothers know very little football outside the world of the Bundesliga; they both grew up in Germany’s industrial Ruhr Area and currently, Halil plays for Frankfurt and Hamit for Bayern. Yet, they opted to play for Turkey. Nuri Sahin also decided to represent Turkey rather than Germany. Mesut Oezil, who has Turkish roots grew up in Germany and decided to play for the country where he learnt his football.
Germany was dealt a major blow with news that Bastian Schweinsteiger, their defensive midfielder will have to sit out both the qualifiers against Turkey and Kazakhstan with injury. Joachim Loew has said that Basti’s replacement is most likely one of the three: Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos and Christian Träsch.
Mueller has no experience of playing in that position whatsoever while Träsch is the only one to have experience in that role. Kroos can also play there but does not regularly play in defensive midfield. Another notable exception for Germany is Marcell Jansen, who as usual is unwell. One has to feel sorry for Jansen due to the innumerous niggling problems he has to deal with.
Despite the fact that Loew said that he will use Jerome Boateng and Heiko Westermann primarily in central defence, reports suggest that he will start Holger Badstuber who he praised recently.
Turkey will be without Arda Turan due to a groin injury he picked up in a training session.
Turkey Squad:
Goalkeepers: Volkan Demirel, Hakan Arikan, Onur Recep Kivrak, Cenk Gonen
Defenders: Gokhan Gonul, Sabri Sarioglu, Omer Endrogan, Ibrahim Toraman, Servet Cetin, Ceyhun Gulselam, Ismail Koybasi, Hakan Kadir Balta.
Midfielders: Hamit Altintop, Mehmet Aurelio, Necip Uysal, Emre Belozoglu, Nuri Sahin, Selcuk Inan, Ozer Hurmaci.
Forwards: Tuncay Sanli, Halil Altintop, Semih Senturk, Mevlut Erdinc, Nihat Kahveci, Sercan Yildirim.
Germany Squad:
Goalkeepers: Rene Adler, Manuel Neuer, Tim Wiese
Defenders: Holger Badstuber, Jerome Boateng, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Sascha Riether Heiko Westermann
Midfielders: Kevin Grosskreutz , Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Marko Marin, Thomas Mueller, Mesut Özil , Lukas Podolski , Christian Träsch
Strikers: Cacau, Mario Gomez, Miroslav Klose
The last time these two sides met happened to be an absolutely nerve-wrecking European Championship semifinal in 2008 where the world momentarily lost the pictures in their screens. Miroslav Klose’s goal was announced but couldn’t be seen live because of the “black-out”. Germany won the tie 3-2 despite having only three shots on target compared to Turkey’s eleven. Turkey dominated the Germans for most of the match but Lahm ended the Turkish hopes by scoring at the death when Turkey virtually had no time to reply.
The game promises to be a very entertaining affair as both sides will attack each other and try to break each other down. After all, this clash is much more than just a qualifier.
Prediction: Germany will need some luck to win but they will come through at the end.
Final Score: Germany 1-0 Turkey.
Plenty of Turkish immigrants live in Germany; plenty of them support both the German and Turkish national team. Apparently, a large number of home fans will be rooting for the Turks if some recent reports arriving out of Germany are to be believed.
The Altintop brothers know very little football outside the world of the Bundesliga; they both grew up in Germany’s industrial Ruhr Area and currently, Halil plays for Frankfurt and Hamit for Bayern. Yet, they opted to play for Turkey. Nuri Sahin also decided to represent Turkey rather than Germany. Mesut Oezil, who has Turkish roots grew up in Germany and decided to play for the country where he learnt his football.
Germany was dealt a major blow with news that Bastian Schweinsteiger, their defensive midfielder will have to sit out both the qualifiers against Turkey and Kazakhstan with injury. Joachim Loew has said that Basti’s replacement is most likely one of the three: Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos and Christian Träsch.
Mueller has no experience of playing in that position whatsoever while Träsch is the only one to have experience in that role. Kroos can also play there but does not regularly play in defensive midfield. Another notable exception for Germany is Marcell Jansen, who as usual is unwell. One has to feel sorry for Jansen due to the innumerous niggling problems he has to deal with.
Despite the fact that Loew said that he will use Jerome Boateng and Heiko Westermann primarily in central defence, reports suggest that he will start Holger Badstuber who he praised recently.
Turkey will be without Arda Turan due to a groin injury he picked up in a training session.
Turkey Squad:
Goalkeepers: Volkan Demirel, Hakan Arikan, Onur Recep Kivrak, Cenk Gonen
Defenders: Gokhan Gonul, Sabri Sarioglu, Omer Endrogan, Ibrahim Toraman, Servet Cetin, Ceyhun Gulselam, Ismail Koybasi, Hakan Kadir Balta.
Midfielders: Hamit Altintop, Mehmet Aurelio, Necip Uysal, Emre Belozoglu, Nuri Sahin, Selcuk Inan, Ozer Hurmaci.
Forwards: Tuncay Sanli, Halil Altintop, Semih Senturk, Mevlut Erdinc, Nihat Kahveci, Sercan Yildirim.
Germany Squad:
Goalkeepers: Rene Adler, Manuel Neuer, Tim Wiese
Defenders: Holger Badstuber, Jerome Boateng, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Sascha Riether Heiko Westermann
Midfielders: Kevin Grosskreutz , Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Marko Marin, Thomas Mueller, Mesut Özil , Lukas Podolski , Christian Träsch
Strikers: Cacau, Mario Gomez, Miroslav Klose
The last time these two sides met happened to be an absolutely nerve-wrecking European Championship semifinal in 2008 where the world momentarily lost the pictures in their screens. Miroslav Klose’s goal was announced but couldn’t be seen live because of the “black-out”. Germany won the tie 3-2 despite having only three shots on target compared to Turkey’s eleven. Turkey dominated the Germans for most of the match but Lahm ended the Turkish hopes by scoring at the death when Turkey virtually had no time to reply.
The game promises to be a very entertaining affair as both sides will attack each other and try to break each other down. After all, this clash is much more than just a qualifier.
Prediction: Germany will need some luck to win but they will come through at the end.
Final Score: Germany 1-0 Turkey.
